Called to Communion: Understanding the Church Today

Overview

Called to Communion is a book of wisdom and insight that explains how providential the trials are through which the Catholic Church is now passing. Topics covered include:

The need of the papal primacy to ensure Christian unity

The true meaning of the priesthood as a sacrament and not a mere ministry

The necessity of the Eucharist as the sacrifice of the Savior now offering himself on our altars

The role of the bishops as successors of the apostles, united with the successor of St. Peter, the bishop of Rome

The value of suffering in union with Christ crucified

The indispensable service of the laity in the apostolate

All these themes, received from Cardinal Ratzinger, bring new clarity and depth.

With the Logos Bible Software edition of Called to Communion, you have an abundance of resources that offer applicable and insightful material for study. You can easily search the subject of Christian unity and access an assortment of useful resources and perspectives from a variety of pastors and theologians.

Key Features

Foreword by the author

Ratzinger’s address presented at the opening of the Synod of Bishops on the priesthood

Homily preached by Ratzinger in January 1990

Praise for the Print Edition

Cardinal Ratzinger offers us what he calls a “primer of Catholic ecclesiology.” As a true theologian, he clarifies the nature of church, bishop and priest, basing his remarks on Scripture and tradition. The book offers penetrating insights into the church from a profound thinker. This is Catholic theology at its best and as it should be.

—Fr. Kenneth Baker, editor, Homiletic & Pastoral Review

Cardinal Ratzinger guides us through today’s confusion about the faith back to the core from which the life of the church unfolds: communion. At the end of the journey, we not only have a better grasp of the controverted issues of the day, but also a renewed understanding of the central mystery of the church and a powerful encouragement to the theological and spiritual renewal envisaged by the Second Vatican Council.

—David Schindler, editor, Communio

This is a goldmine of insights which brings out the development of Catholic doctrine in our day without surrendering one iota of the deposit of faith entrusted to the church by her Divine Founder.

—Fr. John Hardon, editor, The Treasury of Catholic Wisdom

Product Details

Title: Called to Communion: Understanding the Church Today

Author: Joseph Ratzinger

Translator: Adrian Walker

Publisher: Ignatius

Publication Date: 1996

Pages: 165

About Joseph Ratzinger

Joseph Ratzinger, better known as Pope Benedict XVI, is one of our time’s most revered Catholic prelates, scholars, theologians, teachers, and authors. He has spoken on many crucial subjects, including sexual consumerism, modern gender roles, marriage, the priesthood, and the future. As a teenager, he studied classical languages and, in 1939, entered the minor seminary in Traunstein. Though he was drafted into the German antiaircraft corps in 1943, he reentered the seminary in 1945, when World War II ended. On June 29, 1951, Joseph Ratzinger was ordained to the priesthood in the Cathedral of Freising on the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul. He received his doctorate in theology in 1953, from the University of Munich. Starting in 1959, Ratzinger taught theology at the University of Bonn.

At 35, Joseph Ratzinger was appointed chief theological advisor to the archbishop of Cologne, Cardinal Joseph Frings, and he maintained that title for four years. After many years of teaching at several German universities, Ratzinger was appointed by Pope Paul VI as archbishop of Munich and Freising in March 1977 and, in June 1977, was elevated to cardinal. In November 1981, Ratzinger was summoned by Pope John Paul II to Rome, where he was named prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, president of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, and president of the International Theological Commission.

On April 19, 2005, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger was elected to be the 265th pope. He took the name Benedict XVI, after St. Benedict of Nursia. Since that time, he has continued to receive worldwide respect and has been a spiritual influence to Christians and non-Christians alike.